242 on 28/8/2012 at 23:23
I keep noticing that I spend MUCH more time to finish a game than people say it would take. NOT A SINGLE TIME I finished any game as howlongtobeat.com stated, it always took considerably more time. I almost always play on the highest difficulty available and tend to complete everything, but even "Completionist" column never is right for me, it usually takes 2-3x time from me to finish a game.
F.e. now I play The Darkness II, VERY SHORT game as they say. Well, I already spent about 10 hours on it and I'm only on 13th chapter from 19. "Howlongtobeat" says an avarage "main+" playthrough of this very linear game is about 7 hours, and I can't imagine how it's possible if only not to play on easiest difficuly and constantly run forward without any stops to admire view, talk to characters (and there are really many optional conversations), things like that.
So, do absolute majority of people really play games like that - easy difficulty and haste, or they tend to understate spent time, or what? It actually irritates me when someone states a game is just 8 hrs when in reality it's 20.
Poetic thief on 29/8/2012 at 00:19
Same here. Glad to see someone started a thread about this.
Maybe it's my play style but it always takes me a long long time to complete games. A so-called 30 hour game like Mass Effect 2 would take me almost a whole month to complete. Each game has its own story, atmosphere, character building (if it's an rpg) etc. and I like to explore and savor the subtlest nuances to the fullest.
I also never understand why people talk about "beating" games. Like "Oh I just beat Syberia" or "After I beat Morrowind, I'm going to play X". I don't go into games with the mindset to "beat" them so I suppose this plays a a big role. If you're focused on "beating" games, you're more likely to try to make it to the finish line as fast as possible.
demagogue on 29/8/2012 at 04:28
I've been playing Stalker for the last month and am just now getting to the Army Warehouses, not even to Pripryat yet. I'm just in no rush to get through it and am happy to just wander around a lot.
june gloom on 29/8/2012 at 05:17
It depends on the kind of game for me. GTASA took weeks; I pushed through GTA3 in days. Granted, there's a lot more to SA than 3, but...
icemann on 29/8/2012 at 05:19
I used to speed through games, where as nowadays I make sure / try my best to get every single last thing done in a game done before I finish them off, which significantly increases how long it will take to beat them.
Getting all the side quests done and the best gear is half the fun.
demagogue on 29/8/2012 at 05:23
I'll venture a theory that it (sometimes, of course depending on the game) depends on if you're playing to finish it -- you want that notch as soon as you can get it -- or if you're playing it to play it -- you want to drag it out as long as it can stretch.
icemann on 29/8/2012 at 05:26
Well when I was playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for example, much of the game is spent on the side quests compared to the main missions. So I quite enjoyed doing them in that game.
242 on 29/8/2012 at 08:45
Quote Posted by dethtoll
It depends on the kind of game for me. GTASA took weeks; I pushed through GTA3 in days. Granted, there's a lot more to SA than 3, but...
Well, it's obvious that RPG's/open world games playthrough times differ very much, but I mainly meant more or less linear games, when the time to finish shouldn't be too different from average value of other people (at least as they state on forums or sites like howlongtobeat). But it usually takes like 2x time than that, or more. I think maybe people somehow understate the spent time, I count spent time by noticing when I start the game and when I exit the game, i.e. it's real time taken to play the game in the gross (except pauses for eating etc. of course)
icemann on 29/8/2012 at 12:58
I'd never even heard of that site till you mentioned it. An estimate on how many hours a game will take to beat is so subjective, since everyone has differing skill levels when it comes to various things (reaction times, puzzle solving skills, persistence, tolerance of annoying game mechanics etc etc).
Jason Moyer on 29/8/2012 at 14:33
I think people overestimate how quickly they finish games because they think other people are somehow impressed by that.
